The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1887-04-14

ing on for two years. At first there
vas timidity and they only occurred
| rowing holder and more gen.
erai, until just lately every
train was a sufferer. became cogni-
Zant of the robberieS through claims
| instituted by the New York road. on
the strength of their Western custo-
mers' allegations of broken packages.
We were puzzled a long time by the
roDber1es, as our reports from Western
points showed that the seals were al
ways seemingly intact. After over
months work, we found that the rob
berries were committed between
Pittsburg and Denison; that out
| OF eighty crews, Seventy-fiye were
practicing a great scheme of robbery.
One dark night one of our brightest
men stumbled against the mystery of
the seals and the methods by which
they were successfully tempered with.
Concealed behind the car. he saw the
freight crew come to Union line car.
The wire was pulled out of the seal,
the door thrown open and the car
| entered. In short time the
| men emerged, carrying lot
of plumber. They made off
| to the caboOse, and the conductor pulled
| back the door, ran the wire through
and with board struck it a blow. The
| wire went back to its place, the blow
| united the soft lead again without de-
Stroying the lettering on the other side,
| and the seal was apparently untouched.
Individuals of these crews were then
each of them tracked down. We have
| our hands on every thieving emplOye,
| and we are in easy reach of those who
are not arrested. In one case, just
lately, the pursuit was so hot that
twenty-five toxes of fine cigars were
hastily burned i'll a cabOoSe stove. In
another case a tip resulted in two bolts
of fine silk being thrown from caboOse
| into the ManOngahela while crossing
the Pan Handle Bridge In another
| instance crew broke open car and
| found it full of organs. One of tie men
| was so enraged by finding nothing of
a stealable kind that he thrust an iron
bar into an organ and ruined it.
A freight conductor broke into
a car, opened piano and
sat and played it all night, stopping at
midnight to eat his supper off of the
polished top. The same fellow was
humping piano in dive last night
when captured. Another brakeman,
who lives on Wylie Avenue, stole
bolt of cloth, had suit made for him
self and gave the cloth for two other
/ suits to two of his friends. Another
man has become an expert on stolen
ACCORDION. In all my experience OF
| twenty-nine years, / never saw such a
taste for miscellaneous stealing.
| Everything except coffin and black
| smiths anvil has been stolen and made
use of. Some of our detectives assured
me this morning that not a man was
arrested but had from half dozen to
| a dozen pairs of clean socks of the
finest quality and large assortment
of shirts. The thieves who were not
arrested at their homes were taken
from their trains. To do this it was
necessary to display the red light
at the Second Avenue crossing and
side track the trains as they came in.
This was SO quickly done that when
the thieving crew mustered on the
platform to ask what the red light
meant they could see glistening on the
! wrecks of each other the fearful in
struments of justice by which the of
ficers gathered them together. Con-
ductor and brakemen looked aghaSt at
each other as the guilty knowledge of
i Train after train was side
tracked until the alleged thieves
were pulled and the caboOSe cars con-
tanned many evidences of their long
continued depredatiOns were cut loose
and searched. The combinations to rob
freight trains necessitated the guilty
knowledge and actual participation of
the conductor, the middle brakemen,
one or more and the rear brakeman, or
fiagman. 1t did not of necessity make
the front brakeman or the fireman,
fiagman nor the engineer. Every excuse
which they knew could not well
be denied was given for the
broken cars when they neg
lected, which they frequently did, to
seal or lock them up again. The gov
eminent bond cars were broken per-
Union Line OF common freight cars.
In these they always knew they could
get choice goods. Silks, cigars, rifles,
all kinds of imported fire arms and cad
dies of tobacco seemed to be some of
their necessities. Boxes of shoes and a
general run of merchants supplies for
their every day use were found open.
In the caboose cars of each train, hun
dreds of boxes which had contained
the finest cigars were found, on
these trains boldly used by the men
to hold their caps, and over
alls, and lanterns, and waste stuff.
So bold had they become that the
United States regulations, strict as
they are, had lost all terror for them,
whilst the Custom House officers were
trying to trace the goods, and the mer-
1
responding with the shippers, and
the special agents, at special pay
were wondering how this could pos.
sibly be, and loading down the
letter books with theories which flow
around as indefinite as smoke. The
operators smoked their HabanaE
within the very shadow of the court
or custom house. and laughed at theil
masters who suffered the loss" Fires
] oil oil h
, line of the Pan Handle road, made OF
stuff rid out of the caboose cars
that the evidence of things
not seen may be wanting
when the trial commences. Wore
was telegraphed along the road for par
ticulars of each case. Freight trains
have hauled up at water stations, and {
delay made until the caboose wal
swept and garnished. and in doing 81
, evidence has been produced agains
, unsupported railroad men which it vii
be hard to overturn. Almost ever
man arrested had from one Il
ten pawn tickets. It is al
legged that every pawn shoI
in the two cities is represented OF
the tickets. An amount of Severa
, Thousand dollars is said TO be recovera
BILE in this way alone. About the Par
Handle yards to-day there was scene
of quietness that indicated that some
thing unusual had happened. WherI
there is usually a scene of noisy hustle
: the crews of men that had been arreSt {
: left a large number of trains de
serted There were twenty-four o.
these trains piled closely together on tht
side tracks in the yards. Thu
detention of freight, however, was ODlI
temporary. The railroad officers haC
taken special precaution to continue
moving their freight promptly. Al
extra force of sixty men had been EN-
ployed. These were put on the desert
i. ed trains in place of the arrested EN-
I ployees. When it became general!
5 known that large number OF men haG
/, been arrested. applicants for positions
5 commeeed to flock to the depot by tn
I. score.
!, STRANGE CoINCIDECE.
|, ST. LOUIS, Mo-, April ia specia
/ telegram to the Dispatch from
| Peoria, says: Patrick Connors wa
o ran over and killed in this city yesteT
: dav hy a fF7eipht train To-day